List of Characters
Kmetkos *'Emily Kmetko (played by Chelsea Hobbs)' is the newest member of The Rock. Marty recruited her to The Rock after seeing her practicing at the YMCA in Fresno. In addition to her gymnastics training, she works nights and weekends at The Pizza Shack to help support her family financially. She falls in love with her coworker at The Pizza Shack, Damon, an aspiring songwriter. She becomes a member of the National Team and later is chosen for the World's Team, but her career is jeopardized when she is arrested for stealing her brother's medication. She later had sex with her boyfriend, Damon. Following a few weeks later, she broke up with Damon, only to find out at the Hungarian meet that she is pregnant with Damon's child. (Chelsea's pregnant in real life with her second child so they wrote it into the show). *'Chloe Kmetko (played by Susan Ward)' is Emily and Brian's mother. Chloe works at a salon and struggles to provide for her children financially. She is eccentric and energetic, and often reveals information that she shouldn't about her children. She dates Lauren's father Steve after meeting him online, but they break up. After learning that Steve Tanner was funding Emily's scholarship, Chloe takes a second job as a bartender at a strip club.She supports Emily choice to have her baby as she had Emily at 18 and says to Summer "Being a mother's a beautiful and hard life" revealing she had struggles as teen mom. *'Brian Kmetko (played by (Wyatt Smith)' is Emily's younger half brother, and one of her biggest supporters. He uses a wheelchair and has a seizure disorder for which he takes medication. He is of another father but of the same mother. Keelers *'Payson Keeler (played by Ayla Kell)' is the top female gymnast at The Rock. She falls during her uneven bars routine at Nationals and suffers a lumbrosacral fracture, which is believed to be a career-ending injury. In the episode "Save the Last Dance," her family learns that a surgeon believes she can operate on Payson's back and enable her to compete in gymnastics again. Payson goes through with the surgery and begins training again, but the changes in her body after her injury require her to start almost from scratch. With Sasha's help, she develops a more artistic style of gymnastics and successfully petitions onto the World's Team. During her training she develops a crush on Sasha and impulsively kisses him, but he pushes her away. She gives Sasha his medal back in Hungary Heart after saying he can have it back after she says he "was brave, fearless and stood for what was right. He's now the exact different from the example he stood for." She and Sasha have made amends since he returned from Romania. She falls on her ankle at Worlds but came through for her team, her parents, and Sasha when she did her last vault flawlessly and stuck the landing on one foot. Payson is the most determined and serious of all the gymnasts, even though they all share the same ambition. She is swayed by Max, but says that she will not let a boy "get in her head and mess with her game." *'Kim Keeler (played by Peri Gilpin)' is Payson and Becca's mother, and co-manager of The Rock. *'Mark Keeler (played by Brett Cullen)' is Payson and Becca's father. After he loses his job in Boulder, he begins commuting to Minnesota for work. *'Becca Keeler (played by Mia Rose Frampton)' is Payson's younger sister, and a junior gymnast at The Rock. She is not as focused or serious about her gymnastics as Payson, although Payson did get jealous when she won an award for improvement. Cruzes *'Kaylie Cruz (played by Josie Loren)' is an elite gymnast at The Rock. At the beginning of the series, she was secretly dating fellow gymnast Carter. She breaks up with Carter after learning that he slept with her friend Lauren Tanner. At Nationals, she edges out Kelly Parker to become National Champion. She becomes obsessed with losing weight to help her gymnastics and develops anorexia. At the tryouts for the World's Team, she faints during her beam routine and is rushed to the hospital. She is named to the team on the condition that she is deemed medically unfit to compete. While in rehab, Kaylie befriends a model, Maeve, who teaches her how to "play along" to get out of rehab. However, despite her attempts, Kaylie's parents refuse to let her go back to training and Kaylie refuses to acknowledge she has a problem. When Maeve suddenly dies of heart failure due to anorexia, Kaylie realizes the dangers and admits she needs help. She gets back into the grove of the rock after she's cleared and after struggling whenever or not to announce to the public about her eating condition which she does in Worlds Apart with the support of her team, but the NGC frowns on upon it and says, "They're done". They end up winning gold at Worlds and Kaylie starts dating Austin. *'Ronnie Cruz (played by Rosa Blasi)' is Leo and Kaylie's mother. She was a successful singer in the '80's. She had an affair with Marty while he was coach of The Rock. When her husband Alex found out, he moved out and filed for divorce. She is Kaylie's co-manager, handling her press. *'Alex Cruz (played by Jason Manuel Olazabal)' is Leo and Kaylie's father, and a former baseball star. He was Kaylie's manager until she fired him and hired MJ. Kaylie eventually rehires him and Ronnie to be her co-managers in the hopes that it will make them get back together. *'Leo Cruz (played by Marcus Coloma)' is Kaylie's older brother and a former gymnast. He is a college student, but he is moving back to Boulder to help Sasha with some coaching at The Rock. He is very protective of Kaylie and punches Carter when he learns he cheated on her.He went back to college in season 2. Tanners *'Lauren Tanner (played by Cassie Scerbo)' is a gymnast at The Rock, nicknamed "The Queen of the Beam." She is in love with Kaylie's boyfriend Carter and sleeps with him at a party. After Carter and Kaylie break up, they resume sleeping together, but she eventually breaks up with him and gets him kicked out of the gym when he can't tell her that he loves her. Her mother is an addict who abandoned her and her father when she was young. After her mother dies, she learns that her mother tried to see her many times, but her father kept her away. Lauren and Payson go against each other to see who will be the captain. They end up becoming co captains. *'Steve Tanner (played by Anthony Starke)' is Lauren's father and former manager of The Rock. Steve is a wealthy lawyer who always tries to get the best for his daughter. He was engaged to Summer van Horne, but Summer broke up with Steve after discovering that Steve had threatened Lauren's mother not to come to Nationals. He dated Emily's mother Chloe but broke up with her because he didn't feel like he could trust her. He and Summer get back together after Sasha leaves The Rock. *'Leslie Tanner' is Lauren's mother and Steve's ex-wife. Leslie was a drug addict and abandoned Lauren twice. Although she tried to visit Lauren every year, Steve wouldn't allow it and threatened that if she saw Lauren without his permission, he would have her arrested. Steve then kept her away from Nationals making Lauren believe her mother didn't love her. Leslie died in Season 2 after a car accident occurred. Lauren learns that Steve kept her mother from her and leaves him for a while. The Rock *'Sasha Belov (played by Jackson' is the new coach at The Rock, who replaces Marty Walsh after he moves to Denver. Sasha is the only Olympic gymnast to have ever beaten Marty and has four Olympic gold medals. Although he is very tough on his gymnasts, he cares for them profusely and wants them to reach their highest potential. Sasha is shown to be a tough coach, forcing Payson, Emily, Lauren and Kaylie to do a rigorous training exercise as a punishment for attending a party. He is also shown to be very compassionate and caring, comforting Emily's mother at one point and spending a lot of time helping Payson train after her surgery. Sasha had previously trained a group of gymnasts but was forced to quit after a girl died of a head injury on his watch. As a result of this incident, Sasha quit coaching, and consequently The Rock is his first coaching job in over five years. He dates Rock manager Summer for a while, despite their different beliefs. They later break up. He leaves The Rock in "At the End of the World" because he feels that his presence is hurting the girls. He is eventually returned to The Rock after Payson, Lauren and Emily visited him in Romania. He was later appointed to the position of coach to the US Worlds Gymnastics team. *'Summer van Horne (played by Candace Cameron Bure]' is Steve Tanner's ex-girlfriend and former assistant. She reveals to Lauren that in high school, before finding God, she slept with lots of boys and came to be known as a slut. After breaking up with Steve, she continues to have a relationship with Lauren and seems to serve as a sort of mother figure for the girl. She is the current manager of The Rock. She is a Christian who lives her life by faith, much to Sasha's amusement and frequent disdain. There is a measure of romantic tension between them that culminates in a kiss, although both agreed the kiss was inappropriate. However, it is evident that the two have feelings for each other, and in the episode "The Great Wall" they share a very passionate kiss in Sasha's trailer. On the episode "And The Rocky Goes To..." Summer drunkenly declares Sasha a "loveable guy". Sasha walks her home and says someday he wants to get married to the right woman and kisses her. After this point, the two appear to be dating.They mutral argeed to break up before Sasha leaves the Rock temporary. Steve and Summer rekindle their relationship after Sasha leaves, and Steve asks her to marry him. She asks him for time to think, and when she finds out that Sasha wants Emily to have an abortion, she decides that she needs to marry a guy with similar moral views, and accepts Steve's proposal. *'Austin Tucker (played by Zane Holtz)' is the men's olympic champion. He begins training at The Rock, because he was inspired by how dedicated the Rock girls are. He and Kaylie don't get along because she doesn't want Payson and Emily to get distracted. He later invites the girls to a party at his lake house. Lauren, Payson, Emily and Kaylie all go, after promising not to go. Austin and Kaylie kiss at his party, after he comforts her. He also notices Kaylie becoming thinner, and tries to stop her anorexia because his younger sister had problems because of an eating disorder. He eventually brings it up to her parents, and Kaylie asks him why he's doing this. He admits he cares for her, yet he doesn't know why. When Kaylie faints on the beam during the Worlds tryouts, he catches her. *'Max Spencer (played by Joshua Bowman)' is a new gymnast in The Rock. He first appeared as a photographer friend of Austin. Austin later revealed that Max is a gymnast and wants to train in Denver or at The Rock. In the end, he chooses to train at the Rock. Max has shown an interest in Payson. In the episode "What Lies Beneath", Max comes out as bisexual to Austin. Pizza Shack *'Damon Young (played by Johnny Pacar)' is an aspiring songwriter, member of the band Shelter Pups, and friend of Razor. He and Emily become close while he is filling in for Razor at The Pizza Shack and secretly become girlfriend and boyfriend. They take it up to the 'next level' in season 2 and Emily discover she's pregnant and runs to Las Vegas after finding out that Kaylie kissed Damon while they're broken up not before telling Damon she's with his child. Damon follows her to reconcile with her and hopes to become a family with their unborn child. *'Razor (played by Nico Tortorella)' is Emily's co-worker at The Pizza Shack, and lead singer of the band Shelter Pups. He goes on tour as a roadie and asks Damon to fill in for him at The Pizza Shack and to watch over Emily. When he returns, he is surprised to learn that Emily and Damon are dating, but he continues to be a good friend to both of them. Other characters *'Marty Walsh (played by Erik Palladino)' is the former coach of The Rock and a three-time Olympic gold medalist. He leaves the club after Steve Tanner blackmails him with information about his affair with Ronnie Cruz. Marty begins coaching at the Denver Elite Gymnastic Club, where his top gymnast is Kelly Parker. Although the National Team trains at The Rock, Marty is named their coach. He is fired from the National Team by Ellen Beals after he tells her to stop bullying Emily during practice. *'Carter Anderson (played by Zachary Burr Abel)' is Kaylie's ex-boyfriend and former gymnast at The Rock, currently training at Denver Elite. He had sex with Lauren after a fight with Kaylie, but did not tell Kaylie about the affair because of fear that she will be deeply upset. He later gave Kaylie a necklace that had belonged to his late mother. When his relationship with Kaylie is revealed at a party, he argues with Kaylie's dad about who loves Kaylie more. He stands up for Kaylie- refusing to name the girl he's involved with to Sasha- and is subsequently suspended from the Rock and banned from Nationals. He later reveals his affair with Lauren, causing Kaylie to break it off with him. Carter shows great resentment towards Lauren, blaming her for everything that happened between him and Kaylie. However, after being kicked out of his home, he is forced to live in Lauren's attic, and he grows less hostile towards her. He continues to try to win Kaylie back, using it as motivation to get his act back together. The two share a kiss, but Kaylie then discovers that Lauren and Carter are still in contact and that Carter has been living in Lauren's house. He kisses Lauren in the episode "Are We Family." He becomes Lauren's boyfriend after he and Kaylie break up. He breaks up with Lauren after she steals Emily's floor routine. He tells her that the reason he could never tell her he loves her is because she does things that hurt other people. When their relationship becomes public, he is kicked out of The Rock and begins training at Denver Elite. *'Nicky Russo (played by Cody Longo)' is a former gymnast at The Rock and winner of the men's silver medal at Nationals. He is extremely dedicated to his sport and considers any time not spent working on his routines as time wasted. He has feelings for Payson; he helps her obtain cortisone illegally for her back, and they share a kiss in "California Girls." Nicky's agent hopes to pair him with Kaylie as a "power couple" of gymnastics. Although Nicky and Kaylie share several moments of sexual tension, he eventually decides to move to Denver to escape The Rock drama. *'Kelly Parker (played by Nicole Anderson)' is the former National Champion, who trains at Denver Elite. Before Payson's injury, Kelly and Payson were serious rivals. Kelly makes fun of all of The Rock girls, especially Emily. At Nationals, Kelly places second behind Kaylie Cruz. She is the first to notice how dangerously thin Kaylie is becoming. *'MJ Martin (played by Marsha Thomason)' is a sports agent who agrees to represent Kaylie. A former tennis star, she now works for one of the major sports agencies in America. She and Sasha previously had a relationship when Sasha was a young gymnast, and they still make references to the relationship. MJ initially wanted to represent Payson, but Payson's parents would not allow it. Kaylie asked MJ to represent her, but MJ said no, until Kaylie proved she really wanted to succeed in gymnastics. MJ tries to portray Nicky and Kaylie as a golden couple, much to the two's annoyance. *'Ellen Beals (played by Michelle Clunie)' is part of the National Committee. She doesn't like Sasha and wants to get rid of him. Also she is shown to dislike Emily in many episodes. After the National Committee fires Marty Walsh, she takes over as coach of the National Team. She turns in evidence incriminating Sasha to the national committee which is the edited video tape of Payson kissing him. After the original tape resurfaces she comes under inquiry by the national committee which causes her to lose her credibility and influence with the committee.